spring/summer 2016 · • invisalign a penchant for history this penchant for history isn’t...

A Los Altos Town Crier Publication

&&m a g a z i n em a g a z i n ehome gardenhome garden

A Los Altos Town Crier Publication

Spring/Summer 2016

Vaunted villaHistorical Los Altos home boasts colorful garden

Smaller is betterHow to grow compact yet bountiful fruit trees

Also inside:Tips for organizing an estate sale

| Home & Garden | April 27, 2016

Home & Garden | April 27, 2016 |


Los Altos Town Crier138 Main St., Los Altos, CA 94022

948-9000losaltosonline.com

Editor Bruce Barton

Magazine Editor Traci Newell

Designer Mary Watanabe

Writers Tanya Kucak

Amanda Kuzak

Carolyn Snyder

Copy Editors Mary Larsen

Colleen Schick

Photographer Megan V. Winslow

Sales Staff Janice Fabella

Kathy Lera

Dawn Pankonen

Janice Torrecampo

Ad Services Director Chris Redden

Ad Services Assistant Leverne Cornelius

Production Staff Mary Watanabe

Marilyn Winans

Publisher Paul Nyberg

Associate Publisher Howard Bischoff

Human Resources Director Liz Nyberg

Receptionist Peggy Hennessee

Cover photo: The garden of the Geschke estate in Los Altos is the site of the Los Altos History Museum’s Spring Fundraising Gala.

Photo by Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

Magazine Staf f SSSS

Circulation: 16,500. Mailed directly to households in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and select areas of Mountain View. Hundreds of subscribers receive the Town Crier in neighboring communities as well as out of state. The Town Crier can be purchased at newsstands in Los Altos, Mountain View and Palo Alto.

Upcoming 2016 Magazines

Senior Lifestyles MagazinePublishes May 25, 2016

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˙© Los Altos Town Crier Company Inc., 2016. All Rights Reserved.

&&home gardenhome gardenm a g a z i n em a g a z i n e

Vaunted villaThe Los Altos History Museum hosts its Spring Fundraising Gala at the historical Geschke estate.

Page 5

Smaller is betterFollow an expert’s

tips for pruning fruit trees and

maintaining them at a manageable size.

Page 14

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Kuzak’s ClosetProfessional organizer Amanda Kuzak offers advice on hiring an estate-sale company.

Page 23


Nan and Chuck Geschke, 2003 Los Altans of the Year, have shared their home on University Avenue in Los Altos with the community for two decades. And they will be doing it again – somewhat of a swan song before they downsize to a townhome downtown – when they host a benefit for the Los Altos History Museum May 7. Nan has played a major role in the creation of the museum through philanthropy and volunteering.

A garden made for parties It’s billed as a “Garden Party Gala” – and what a garden it is. It’s a chance to meet Georgia Peach, Molten Lava, Dancing Peacock and Ruslyn in the Pink. They’re part of an all-star cast that has created a riot of color among the redwoods, ancient oaks and Deodar cedars on the two acres surrounding the Geschkes’ historical home. The first two are members of the coral bells family; the latter, Japanese maples. They play into Nan’s love of salmon and orange tones and red. On the right side of the house, a rock-lined gravel path meanders through a woodland setting to a rock waterfall and reflecting pool. Weeping cherry trees shelter the beguiling figure of a woman with birds, purchased by the couple in an antiques store in New Orleans. Another path, populated with some whimsical cement critters, runs alongside Adobe Creek, which bisects the

VILLA

Vaunted villaGeschkes open gardens of Los Altos estate for History Museum gala

Continued on Page 6

MEGAN V. WINSLOW/TOWN CRIER

The Los Altos home of Nan and Chuck Geschke boasts colorful flowers nestled among the redwoods, ancient oaks and Deodar cedars. The Los Altos History Museum has scheduled its spring gala at the estate May 7.

By Carolyn SnyderSpecial to the Town Crier


property. It creates the feeling of being worlds away from the hubbub of downtown. A wooden bridge at the end pro-vides access to a greenhouse and grassy area. Directly behind the house, a more significant Santa Maria stone bridge crosses the creek to the expansive pool area. Here, you’ll find a Carmel stone cabana, poolside ter-race, pergola and gazebo with full kitchen – all paved in French limestone. A rose garden, to the left of the cabana, and decorative urns filled with geraniums, delphiniums and gardenias add color and fragrance. None of this was there when the Geschkes purchased the property from Tamme and Jerry Tossy in 1995. What was there was an architectural gem in a natural setting. The house was a work in progress when they moved into it in December 1996. “We were living with painters and plumbers. And then our daughter Kathy announced she was getting married in June,” Nan said. “There was no landscaping or anything else in the backyard. Incredible as it seems, the pool, pool house, gazebo and landscaping were completed by June 7 (the wedding day).” This was thanks to contractor Steve Minor & Asso-ciates of Los Altos, who also breathed new life into the Italianate villa the Geschkes call home.

Continued from Page 5

VILLA

The Geschkes’ foyer, below left, features a vaulted ceiling and graceful curving staircase. An interior inlaid floor, below right, sports a fleur-de-lys motif designed by a Polish emigre who trained repairing palace floors.


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A house with a story The estate was built in one year in 1926 for Frank Marini, for a cost of $26,000, by William Short, who also built several homes around Stanford University. The ar-chitect was Perseo Righetti of San Francisco, noted for designing Mediterranean Revival-style buildings. Lifelong bachelor Marini, an undertaker in San Fran-cisco who had invested in the Bank of Italy (today’s Bank of America), built it for himself and his four maiden sis-ters. He donated money to build St. Nicholas Catholic Church and El Retiro Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos. His last surviving sister, Jenny, bequeathed it to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. The house was used as a retreat be-fore being purchased by the Tossys. The Geschkes haven’t changed the feel of the house, though they upgraded the electrical and plumbing sys-tems, combined two bedrooms upstairs to create a master suite and transformed a terrace off the kitchen into a fam-ily room. What they have done is restore it to its former glory and then some – all with help from daughter Kathy Orciuoli, an interior designer who now is affiliated with Viscusi El-son Interior Design in Los Altos (she’s also helping with her parents’ new digs in downtown Los Altos). “It was really, really fun,” Nan said of working with Kathy on the house. “We had a great time.”

VILLA

A rounded casement, double-hung windows, concrete baluster rails and decorative urns distinguish the facade of the Geschke estate, above.

PHOTOS BY MEGAN V. WINSLOW/TOWN CRIER Continued on Page 10


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Gleaming hardwood floors, mahogany wainscoting and beveled glass doors in the foyer and living and dining rooms are original to the house. The foyer is noteworthy for its vaulted ceiling and graceful curving staircase. A candlestick phone from the ’20s – apropos to the age of the house – is in an alcove in the foyer. The couple purchased it in New York. In the living and dining rooms, the original curtain rods were bronzed to add warmth. The living room has a soft golden glow, in contrast to the dining room, where walls are covered in rich blue cut-velvet fabric from Ralph Lauren. The Geschkes gutted the kitchen, adding a window and replacing the floor with black and white marble in a checkerboard pattern. They kept the original chandelier, which hangs above the Carrara marble island, and copied the cabinetry style of the ’20s. Noteworthy is the pantry’s “meat locker door.” The couple retained the servants’ call system and preserved a canvas fire hose in the kitchen stairwell (the equivalent of today’s fire extinguisher). Another bow to history is the family room’s barrel ceil-ing, copied from the living room.


VILLA

MEGAN V. WINSLOW/TOWN CRIER

The cherub fountain that graces the Geschkes’ garden is from France by way of an antiques store in New Orleans.Continued on Page 12


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A penchant for history This penchant for history isn’t surprising when one considers Nan’s background. She graduated from Marygrove College in Detroit with a degree in history and political science, served on the Los Altos Historical Commission for 10 years and produced more than 50 cable access TV shows on local history. She also likes French fleurs-de-lys. The gilded ones on the wrought-iron gates to the estate inspired her to carry the motif into the house in surprising ways. They pop up in upholstery fabric, in the game room carpet, in diamond-shaped glass panes and in the inlaid wood bars in the family and game rooms. “I made it a fun thing,” said Nan, whose note cards even have a fleur-de-lys. The 7,200-square-foot house is on four levels with garden views from nearly every window, the best of which is from the cupola (Nan’s art studio) atop the house. It is reached by the original elevator, which has life-size figures – ghosts of the ’20s – painted on its walls by Los Altos artist Jan Meyer. Viewed from the master suite is a parterre designed by garden manager Susan Brafford, who will be on hand for the museum’s garden party. It features boxwood hedges, Nan’s favorite camellias and a gazing ball. In addition to the garden party, a boat party is scheduled on the terrace behind the house. Here, on the wall, is a copy of Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party” painted by Meyer, with Geschke family members as the partygoers. They’ll be keeping an eye on things.


VILLA

Garden Party Gala April showers brought the flowers that are blooming just in time for the Los Altos History Museum’s Garden Party Gala at the Geschke estate, scheduled 4:30-7:30 p.m. May 7. The fundraiser will feature self-guided garden tours of the 2-acre property. Garden manager Susan Brafford will be on hand to answer questions. A garden boutique, vintage cars in the driveway of the historical home, a chamber quartet and a caricaturist are added attractions. Peninsula Outdoor Painters plein-air artists will be at work around the property, with appearances by Jan Meyer and Emily Hollinger. The gala will include wine tasting with selections from Thomas Fogarty Winery & Vineyards, Kings Mountain Winery and Mindego Ridge Vineyard, as well as hors d’oeuvres from local caterers. For tickets and more information, call 948-9427, ext. 14, or email [email protected]. d


By Tanya KucakSpecial to the Town Crier

It’s worth pondering who – or what – eats most of the bounty from your backyard fruit trees. Is it your family and friends or the squirrels and roof rats? Does too much of it rot on the ground? What if you could pick all of the fruit without a ladder, it were higher quality and the tree took up less space in your garden? I’ve been hearing about the advantages of shaping deciduous fruit trees when they’re small and thinning the fruit for years, but free-tree specialist and author Ann Ralph’s talk at last month’s San Francisco Flower & Garden Show was the most concise, comprehensive and persuasive presenta-tion I’ve seen. “Routine care is easier if the tree is as tall as you” rath-er than twice your height, Ralph said. That care includes pruning twice a year (especially in summer), thinning and harvesting the fruit and monitoring it for pests and diseases. Smaller is also better because “people radically underestimate the production capacity of an average-size fruit tree, and overestimate the amount of fruit they actu-ally use,” she noted. For example, a 6-foot apple tree can produce at least 100-150 apples. With a 12-foot tree, “you

Smaller is betterTips for shaping deciduous fruit trees

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can’t get up there to thin the fruit, and it will have lots of wormy and inferior fruit,” Ralph added. Counterintuitively, to get a small tree you don’t want to start with genetic-dwarf or ultra-dwarf varieties.

Continued on Page 18

PHOTOS BY TANYA KUZAK/SPECIAL TO THE TOWN CRIER

Lemon, left, and other citrus trees don’t require the knee-high cut or the routine pruning that deciduous fruit trees do. Choose dwarfing rootstocks and “shape citrus as you see fit,” advises fruit-tree specialist Ann Ralph. The fruit on this apricot tree, above, is much too prolific for the tree to handle, and growing far too close together. Once the fruit is properly thinned, the branch will sustain two or three larger, better-tasting, healthier apricots.


Semi-dwarf fruit trees, which have fruiting wood called “scions” grafted onto a semi-dwarf rootstock, are the ones to buy. The semi-dwarfs are hardier, have stronger root systems, are bred for disease-resistance and fruit quality, and offer the widest selection of varieties. Although semi-dwarfs can reach 25 feet without pruning, they are easy to keep small with pruning, according to Ralph. “Pruning is the best way to control the size of a fruit tree,” she said.

Knee-high cuts If you can do anything for a fruit tree, Ralph advised, the most important thing is to cut your bare-root sapling knee-high as soon as you bring it home from the nurs-ery and plant it. That’s right – take that 5- to 8-foot-high sapling you carefully selected and cut it knee-high. It’s the hardest cut to make, and the most important one. New branches will sprout from dormant buds lower on the trunk. You then choose three main branches to form the “scaffold” of your small tree, helping the tree develop good form while it’s young. Furthermore, Ralph said, “bareroot is the best way to plant a fruit tree.” You get the best price, the trees have never been in a container so you don’t run the risk of

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circling roots, you don’t have to remove the fluffy nursery soil before planting and you can make the low prune while the tree is still young enough to manage it. Fruit trees can set more fruit than they can support, so thinning the fruit “is as important as pruning, and as psycho-logically difficult” as the knee-high cut, Ralph said. If you can remove up to 75 percent of the fruit when it is as big as your thumb, your reward will be larger and higher-quality fruit. The exception is citrus trees, which can handle the amount of fruit they set, and which don’t need the routine pruning that deciduous fruit trees do. Another exception is fig trees, which Ralph said you can prune any way you want. Ralph’s book “Grow a Little Fruit Tree: Simple Pruning Techniques for Small-Space, Easy-Harvest Fruit Trees” (Storey Publishing, 2014) offers further details. Tanya Kucak gardens organically. Email her at [email protected]. d

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Rather than buying the largest container you can, fruit-tree specialist Ann Ralph suggests selecting a younger, thinner deciduous fruit-tree sapling in bareroot season, around the beginning of the year. Typically, you will see saplings over 5 feet high. Make the all-important knee-high cut either before you leave the nursery or as soon as you plant it.

TANYA KUZAK/SPECIAL TO THE TOWN CRIER


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ESTATE

Kuzak's ClosetHow to hire an estate-sale company


By Amanda Kuzak

It’s time to say goodbye to Grandma’s knitted owl collection and somehow break down Grandpa’s garage – the tool benches, weird springs and connectors he always liked. The entire house is packed, and the realtor ordered you to have it empty by May 1. Anxious yet? The spring real estate market is in full swing, and my phone is ringing off the hook as homeowners and realtors are under pressure to empty estates. When I discuss with families the management of their estates and the liquidation process, they all have one thing in common: feeling overwhelmed.

Top tips for estate sales After managing hundreds of estate sales and speaking with hundreds of families, I find that the same questions about hiring an estate-sale compa-ny arise repeatedly. Whether managing the estate of a family member or planning your own as you downsize or move to Hawaii, the following tips can make a major difference. • Don’t throw anything away. Many families feel like they need to clean up before they inter-view an estate sale company. A good company

COURTESY OF AMANDA KUZAK

If an estate-sale company sets realistic expectations when hosting a sale, the sellers will end up with smiles on their faces.


should transform the space for you. Items families may value like crystal, china and furniture don’t usually bring in the dollars – it is the small collectibles and vintage trea-sures that an estate-sale specialist can spot that add up. Spend your energy determining which items you would like to keep, and leave the rest up to the company you hire. • Research local estate liquidators. Ask your real estate agent and friends for referrals. Try a quick Google search. Only hire a company with a website with listed services, photos of staff and photos and listings from previous sales. Estate-sale exposure is essential, so prioritize using a com-pany with great marketing. The online websites Estatesales.net and Estatesales.org allow you to type in your ZIP code to identify local com-panies. The sites also list upcoming sales. Stop by one and observe how staff interact with shoppers, review pricing and how shoppers pay. If the owner is present, try to chat or grab a business card. Unpriced sales and insufficient staff-ing could be enough evidence to rule out some companies. • Interview representatives from a few companies over the phone and pick your top two for a consultation at your house. I love in-home consultations because I can assess potential liabilities the property may have, the parking situ-ation, proximity to resources like a recycling center or a donation site and items available for sale.

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ESTATE



Don’t throw anything away before considering an estate sale – you never know if you have a hidden treasure. Continued on Page 26


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• Get down to business during the consultation. Ask about insurance, staffing (if the company uses contrac-tors or has employees, workers’ compensation, full-time or part-time staff) and what the contract looks like. If any-thing in the contract changes after signing (setup, etc.), you have the right to request a new contract or walk away. • Discuss how the company handles money. Accept-ing credits cards it is a very good indicator of professional conduct – accepting only cash or checks leaves too much wiggle room for error. Reducing the amount of cash that changes hands also reduces theft risk. A California estate-sale company should be collecting sales tax. • Do not allow any extra items. A frequent estate-sale nightmare occurs when the company brings extra items to your sale. This common practice in the estate industry is wrong, particularly given that the goal is to empty the prop-erty. Bringing outside items in can also create a conflict of interest, as buyers will be spending money on your family items and those of the estate company. Consider injury or property damage – imagine a client falling on a lamp that didn’t belong to the estate in the first place. • Set realistic expectations. I often have to tell a family that the value of an item isn’t what they are hoping for. It also goes the other way. Last year I managed an estate sale wherein the family believed that the house was full of junk.

ESTATE


The right estate-sale company will present your items in an organized way, above. Continued on Page 30


PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMANDA KUZAK

A seasoned representative can spot vintage treasures and collectibles, right.


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On the verge of having a garage sale, they called me on a friend’s recommendation. I had to beg the family to let me work my magic. In the end, they were shocked and grateful when we sold more than $25,000 worth of treasures. • Free cleanup is a bad idea. Some companies shuffle unsold items into their next sale rather than make a prom-ised charitable donation. Be sure to ask about this during the interview process. At Kuzak’s Closet, we clean up 99 percent of the estate sales we organize for a fee based on the volume of trash/recycling/medical waste/hazardous waste/shredding etc., leaving the house clean. In the event of unsold items after the estate sale or liquidation, we pro-cess them for donation and provide an itemized list, unless the family has specified otherwise. The right estate-sale company can help you pass your family heirlooms along to happy new owners in a respect-ful and organized way. What could be a daunting and dev-astating task for a family can be managed in a very short time, saving emotional energy and potentially making a good profit. Grandpa’s springs and coils? They are flying high in an engineering buff’s new model plane. And Grandma’s owls are getting plenty of attention in that young couple’s kitchen. Amanda Kuzak is a Los Altos-based professional or-ganizer and estate liquidator. For more information, visit kuzakscloset.com. d

ESTATE



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spring/summer 2016 · • invisalign a penchant for history this penchant for history isn’t...

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